Apostolic Succession and Optimus Prime!

Last night after posting my first entry to my new blog, I was watching "Transformers: The Movie" with my wife and we were discussing the symbolism behind Optimus dying statement, "Till all are one." As we were watching this scene as Optimus makes his final statement he passes on the matrix of leadership. It was at this moment that my wife turned to me and said, "That's like Apostolic Succession!" My immediate thought... God thank you for my wife!

Besides the self-evident truth that "Transformers: The Movie" is the greatest movie ever made and the standard against which all other movies should be judged, it contains such pithy statements such as, "All we need is a little energon and a lot of luck." If you are an addict for cheez-e 80's rock and transformers like me check out this link - http://www.seibertron.com/media/video/thetouch/index.php and click on "download the music video". I only have one thing to say AWESOME!!! If you're not into it, all I can say is there's no accounting for taste.

All right, seriously unity is vital due to the nature of the Trinity and God's plan for us to share in His life. This is a significant part of what Jesus the second Person of the Most Holy Trinity reveals to us in St. John's Gospel (17:21). If we then link this to Jesus statement in St. John chapter 6 -"...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;" we begin to understand that this sharing or communion is attained through the reception of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion! From this and the surrounding context of the passage I came to three conclusions,

1) That total unity in the Trinity was what Jesus intended and
2) ...that unity is attained through receiving the real presence in the Eucharist,
3) ...and that the Eucharist could only be received today via Apostolic Succession (i.e Bishops - successors to the Apostles and Priests ordained by those Bishops - dispensing the Sacraments)

The decision to become a member of the One Church JESUS founded was clear!

12-15-05

How "Transformers: The Movie" Made Me a Catholic!

In short: I came into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 1997 from a Southern Baptist background. I was in my senior year in a Baptist college where I had been studying to become a minister. It was my reflections on the following passage from the Gospel of St. John that finally led me join the One Church that Jesus founded.

"..Holy Father, keep them in thy name,

which thou hast given me,

that they may be one, even as we are one." - Jn 17:21

I like to say that "Transformers: The Movie" Made Me a Catholic! ;o) This was probably my favorite movie when I was a kid. In TTM, Optimus Prime with his dying 'breath' says, "Till all are one!" It was my search for unity that allowed me to be open to the truth about the Roman Catholic Church.